Tennis: Valentin Vacherot starts his Asian tour under pressure at the Chengdu 250

A few days ago, Valentin Vacherot greatly contributed to Monaco’s qualification for the Davis Cup World Group. A historic first for the principality and an indescribable emotion for its new leader. Competing this week at the ATP 250 in Chengdu, Vacherot struggled to recover from his emotions and was eliminated in the first round.

Valentin Vacherot is clearly not quite down from cloud nine, reached with his national team last week. It’s difficult for the Monégasque to get his feet back on the ground. He was competing this week in the ATP 250 tournament in Chengdu, China, as the number 1 seed. 

His opponent of the day, Lloyd Harris, went through two qualifying matches and then a first round victory before facing Valentin Vacherot, who received a first round bye thanks to his ranking. The South African represented a significant trap for the Monégasque. Having slipped down in the ATP rankings, he had nearly reached the top 30 five years ago.

An extremely tight match between the two men, which was decided notably on serve. In the first set, Valentin Vacherot started poorly and lost his serve at 1/1. He chased the score for a good half hour to no avail. In the second set, both players showed solid serving. The match thus naturally went to a tiebreaker, won 7-5 by Lloyd Harris. In the end, a very tight match with only one break conceded, which was enough for the South African to prevail. He will face number 5 seed Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals.

A concerning loss for Valentin Vacherot?

If he hopes to maintain a good ranking at the end of the season, Valentin Vacherot will have to fight to save his points at the Shanghai Masters 1000, which will begin on October 6. As a reminder, it was at this Chinese tournament that the player came to prominence last year, achieving one of the greatest tennis achievements of recent years. So with his form in recent weeks, will the Monégasque be able to bounce back and live up to his status?